Tree Frog Forestry News

Daily Archives: February 8, 2013

Business & Politics

Fortress Paper could take hit from China’s anti-dumping probe

Financial Post

February 7, 2013

Category: Business & Politics

Region: Canada

Reports that China’s Ministry of Commerce has initiated an anti-dumping probe into cellulose pulp imported from the United States, Canada and Brazil appears to increase the risk profile of Fortress Paper Ltd.’s dissolving pulp operations. While the details are so far limited, Raymond James analyst Daryl Swetlishoff believes the impact to Vancouver-based Fortress Paper is potentially material. The People’s Daily Online reported that the Ministry of Commerce will consider the extent to which these imports hurt the Chinese cellulose pulp industry and base its decisions on China’s anti-dumping laws.

MOU creates opportunities at mill

Atlantic Farm Focus

February 7, 2013

Category: Business & Politics

Region: Canada East, Canada

[Membertou, NS]— An agreement signed last week (end of January) between the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs and Port Hawkesbury Paper has laid the groundwork for more Mi’kmaq job opportunities at the mill and in its forestry operations. …In practical terms, the deal is a good one for Nova Scotia Mi’kmaqs, said Membertou Chief Terry Paul, co-chair of the assembly. “Immediately, we’ll have employment and training opportunities,” he said. “And we’ll have a socio-economic benefits agreement with that, along with an environmental agreement, which I feel is really important.

Louisiana-Pacific swings to profit on strong sales

Market Watch

February 8, 2013

Category: Business & Politics

Region: United States

Louisiana-Pacific Corp. swung to a fourth-quarter profit as the construction materials company posted strong revenue gains from its oriented strand-board and siding businesses. Shares rose 2.5% premarket to $21 as the company beat revenue estimates. As of Thursday’s close, the stock was up 30% over the past three months. The company has seen its results improve recently amid growing optimism in the U.S. housing industry.

Rebound in China’s demand for logs and lumber fuels a mini-recovery in H2/2012

February 8, 2013

Category: Business & Politics

Region: International

Vancouver, B.C. The February issue of WOOD MARKETS’ China Bulletin – released today – summarizes China’s rebounding growth in log and lumber imports during the second half of 2012, and especially since the start of the fourth quarter. Despite the slowdown throughout most of 2012 in the housing market, China’s total forest products import and export trade value still increased in 2012, reaching US$120 billion, up 3% from 2011.

Rebound in China’s demand for logs and lumber fuels a mini-recovery in H2/2012

February 8, 2013

Category: Business & Politics

Region: International

Vancouver, B.C. The February issue of WOOD MARKETS’ China Bulletin – released today – summarizes China’s rebounding growth in log and lumber imports during the second half of 2012, and especially since the start of the fourth quarter. Despite the slowdown throughout most of 2012 in the housing market, China’s total forest products import and export trade value still increased in 2012, reaching US$120 billion, up 3% from 2011.

Forestry

Peter Foster: Unsustainable oversight

Financial Post

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada

Was there ever a nanogram of doubt that this week’s report from the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development would be a tale of woe? …The most obvious evidence that Mr. Vaughan is joined at the hip with eco-radicalism lies in his apparent support for ENGO thuggery. He notes that “there is a growing list of Canadian companies that are integrating environmental performance into how they do business both here and abroad. For example, after years of facing consumer boycotts, Canada’s forestry sector is now a world leader in sustainably produced timber and forest products.”

Great Bear Rainforest – Half the forest isn’t enough

Natural Resources Defense Council (blog)

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

…And, after seven years, it is long past time for these agreements to be completed so that the Great Bear Rainforest is protected. Currently only half the region is under protection and this is not enough. The “Take it Taller” campaign provides a way for those of us who love the Great Bear Rainforest to take action and ask for the protections the region needs. ….But half off limits means that half of the forest is still open to logging. This is not enough to safeguard species such as Spirit Bears and the ancient red cedars.

Court rejects appeal of logging road in Grass River Provincial Park

Winnipeg Free Press

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

The Wilderness Committee’s appeal of a new logging road in a provincial park has been dismissed in a written decision by the Manitoba Court of Appeal, the environmental lobbying group said this morning. The Manitoba government licenced Tolko Industries to construct a new logging road through critical caribou habitat in Grass River Provincial Park, where the government has said logging was banned, the committee said. “This is a very damning decision, and the Manitoba government has to answer for their actions.

Report sounds alarm on deteriorating roads, bridges

…Roads and bridges are a common problem area in our audits,” board chairman Al Gorley said, “and poorly constructed or maintained roads and bridges create risks to workers, the public and the environment. The board is concerned that non-compliance has increased significantly over the past few years. An audit report the board also released today is a further example of these findings.”

Ministry of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation & Chawathil First Nation

BC Government

February 6, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

HOPE – B.C. has reached a milestone in its innovative approach to putting forestry revenue directly back into First Nations communities. The signing of a Forest Consultation and Revenue Sharing Agreement (FCRSA) with the Chawathil First Nation marks the 100th FCRSA signed since B.C. adopted a new model in 2010. The Chawathil FCRSA agreement flows a percentage of provincial forestry revenue from the First Nation’s traditional territory directly back into the community and allows the First Nation to decide where it is needed most.

Simon Ellis awarded prestigious 3M National Teaching Fellowship

UBC Faculty of Forestry

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

We are delighted to announce that Dr Simon Ellis, Associate Professor in Wood Science and Director of the Wood Products Processing program, is being awarded this year’s 3M National Teaching Fellowship. This award is recognized as Canada’s most prestigious teaching award. …Simon is an outstanding educator – a Killam Teaching Prize winner and consistently one of the highest rated instructors in the Faculty of Forestry. He is incredibly passionate about teaching and empowering students to perform at their fullest potential.

Forests ‘in crisis’ need fixing, say industry groups

Provincial and industry experts coming to Kamloops for town hall meeting

Kamloops Daily News

February 8, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

Kamloops forestry workers are being asked to rally behind a push to fix a broken industry. It’s time to talk about the “crisis in B.C. forests,” says the B.C. Federation of Labour. On Wednesday, the organization is bringing provincial and industry experts to Kamloops to address what they call the mismanagement of forests. It’s part of a series of town hall meetings being held across the province.

New diesel emission rules to be aired at logging conference

Record Searchlight

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

ANDERSON — State air officials could get an earful Saturday at the Sierra-Cascade Logging Conference in Anderson. Representatives from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will talk to loggers and farmers about new off-road diesel vehicle regulation standards that start taking effect next year. “It’s something that affects a lot of vehicles we have on the road right now,” conference spokesman Mike Quinn said, adding the rules are a threat to an already-fragile economy.

Editorial: Forest resolution more hot air from Helena

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

Freshman state Rep. Kerry White is nothing if not a crusader. The problem is, though, crusaders rarely make good legislators. …His resolution, if approved, would stand in opposition to U.S. Sen. Jon Testers Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, a federal measure crafted by diverse interests from the timber industry, recreation groups and environmentalists. …White’s measure, then, seems like more hot air that has been part of the state’s wilderness debate for far too long.

Forest Service re-evaluates plan for Tongass

KSTK

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

Every five years the Forest Service must re-evaluate how it’s managing the national forests. The Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan was last updated in 2008. It’s under review again this year and the Forest Service is asking Southeast community members for their input. Austin O’Brien, District Staff Officer for the Timber Program in the Wrangell Ranger District, explains what kind of feedback they’re hoping to get.

GRANTS PASS — Big changes are in store for the nation’s forests as global warming increases wildfires and insect infestations, and generates more frequent floods and droughts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture warns in a new report. The study released Tuesday is part of the National Climate Assessment and will serve as a roadmap for managing national forests across the country in coming years. It says the area burned by wildfires is expected to at least double over the next 25 years, and insect infestations often will affect more land per year than fires.

Year-round hunting will cull elk, save forest

Letter by DAN CADY

Arizona Daily Sun

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

…The elk have destroyed that grove, rendering it into a game of pick-up-sticks made of the gray fallen trunks of aspen trees. Meanwhile, the barbed wire in the area holds many forearms of what once were elk, bones whitening and twisted in the strands of steel — testimony to failed attempts to jump the useless fences. Elk are killing our local forest. Their enormously beautiful herds make us forget they do not belong here in the numbers we have.

Timber salvaging project OK’d for Arizona forest

MyFox Phoenix

February 7, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

ALPINE, Ariz. – The Apache Sitgreaves National Forest has signed off on a project to salvage timber from trees destroyed by a massive wildfire. The project approved this week in the Alpine Ranger District includes removing dead and dying trees on 242 acres over a year. It is subject to appeal. District ranger Rick Davalos says the project is an economic opportunity and will help reduce heavy fuels in the forest. The Wallow Fire burned 840 square miles in Arizona and New Mexico for a month in 2011 before it was fully contained. END

GRANTS PASS, Oregon — Gov. John Kitzhaber on Thursday gave members of Congress a menu of options for increasing logging on the so-called O&C timberlands in western Oregon to help rural counties shore up cash-strapped budgets and produce logs for local mills. The governor said he hopes Oregon’s congressional delegation will use the options to produce legislation resolving the funding problem for Oregon timber counties. They have struggled nearly two decades since logging cutbacks were adopted on federal lands to protect the northern spotted owl and salmon.

Clear-cut logging debate looms in Adirondacks

North Country Public Radio

February 8, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: US East, United States

Ray Brook, NY— Next week the Adirondack Park Agency will vote on a controversial new policy that would change the way clear-cut logging is regulated. …Supporters of the change say it will help the region’s logging industry harvest trees more efficiently, while also encouraging smarter long-term management of the Park’s forests. Critics in the environmental community say the APA is giving up too much of its regulatory clout and giving loggers too much leeway.

Lilliput forests, global certification

Phys.org

February 8, 2013

Category: Forestry

Region: International

As global demand for timber certified as being sustainable is growing, European small forest owners are still reluctant to gain certification. But increasing economic advantages may shift their position. The level of interest for the US standard Smart Logging, designed to ensure the sustainable use of the forests, has now been tested in Europe. Between 2009 and 2012, a pilot forestry certification process was developed under the EU funded project called CeFCo.